Editor and publisher of Niagara Falls, N.Y., newspaper sent an email to a film critic refusing to publish reviews of films with "degenerate power women."

Freelance film critic Michael Calleri (left) said his reviews were turfed from the paper because they supposedly glorified movies with strong female leads. Frank Parlato, editor and publisher of the weekly Niagara Falls Reporter (right), says he objects to movies that "demean men."

Movies with fierce female heroines might be booming at the box office, but a Niagara Falls, N.Y., publisher doesn’t care to see them in his newspaper.

Frank Parlato, editor and publisher of the weekly Niagara Falls Reporter, is at the centre of controversy after a freelance film critic said his reviews were turfed from the paper because they glorified movies with strong female leads.

The critic’s charges were published by Roger Ebert on the Chicago Sun-Times website, along with an email written by Parlato in which he refuses to publish “reviews of films where women are alpha and men are beta.”

Michael Calleri, a long-time reviewer for the paper, had written to Parlato to find out why his recent reviews were not being published, including one of Snow White and the Huntsman, a twist on the classic fairy tale that has a sword-wielding Snow White lead an army into battle.

He encourages Calleri to seek another publisher or to write reviews “where men act like good strong men and have a heroic inspiring influence on young people to build up their character.” He adds: “I am not interested in supporting the reversing of traditional gender roles.”

Calleri’s lengthy screed, clocking in at 3,200 words, is mostly a personal diatribe against Parlato and his leadership of the Niagara Falls Reporter. The movie critic writes that the publisher’s “villainous treatment of strong women, is so appalling, that it borders on being unbelievable” and notes that he has already found a new gig, writing for Buffalo-based WNYMedia.net.

Parlato swung back with a scathing editorial in which he stood by his email and his right to publish whatever he likes.

“I might remind the reader that the email does not say I would not consider reviews of films where men and women are both shown in an inspiring light. I am simply not interested in films that demean men, or men of a particular race. I am also equally uninterested in publishing reviews of films that demean women,” he wrote.

In an interview with the Star, Parlato repeated that he did not support “gender-bashing” of either sex.

“I’m in favour of strong men and strong women. I don’t think that they have to be in competition or one has to be belittled in order to elevate the other,” he said.

Parlato declined to name an example of a film that portrayed women as superior to men, saying that he simply wasn’t interested in Hollywood films.

“It is the right of Hollywood to market promiscuous sex, violence and profanity, not only to adults but to adolescents,” he said. “I operate a small newspaper in Niagara Falls and it is my right not to review Hollywood movies.”

Parlato purchased the Niagara Falls Reporter less than a year ago from founding editor Mike Hudson. The paper is a free weekly and has a reported circulation of about 22,000.

In July, the paper made national headlines for a sports column decrying the NHL for “endorsing homosexuality” by supporting the “You Can Play” campaign. Parlato stood by the article in an editorial.

Roger Ebert has not commented on the controversy and could not be reached for comment Thursday.

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